Kell took me down a lengthy and boring route, one that unfortunately stood as the only exit from Hell. We took the elevator outside Envy down to the lowest point of Hell, and turned onto a long dusty hall.

At the end of the hall was a great set of double doors, and past that was a conference room similar to The Few's one up in the city. The place had been half-heartedly cleaned up, but dry blood was still stuck to about half of the wood paneling. A rusty elevator waited on one side of the room. I vaguely recognized this place- it had been the same room Tecie had led me out of when I first came to Hell.

"Just head up from here. And out." Kell said carefully.

The elevator was a fairly old one, but again a familiar one. There were only three buttons- down, medium and up- and I realized Kell had made the matter of escape painfully easy. There was no reason I couldn't hit the medium button and head back into Pride. I wasn't about to do that though. That'd be foolish.

I hit the up button, and began my ascent. I zoned out as the elevator buckled to a start. My mind was lucidly clear, and I couldn't really gauge my thoughts. Was I relieved? Was I mournful? I just seemed to feel a little bit mixed in every which way. Was that normal?

Time passed very quickly. I suppose it had something to do with the dullness of the dim lighting and repetitive sounds. I almost laughed when I realized these were the same conditions I had order on the new church recruits, boring and uncomfortable ones meant to make time even more meaningless.

I had to take a moment to reevaluate my location, but from there on it was a short walk to the outskirts of Heaven. It was midday, and it wasn't long before I saw a hunting party. I knew two of the angels in it, actually: Parabel and Eiphet. But in a fit of melancholy determinism, I decided to let them pass me by without making my presence known.

I didn't want to talk to anyone right now but Michael. It would only be after speaking to him that I would feel comfortable again. With this in mind, I skirted around the outskirts of Heaven. The only walls in Heaven were around the inner circle, and I spied the Church Tower beyond one tall white wall.

I struggled to climb it. In the end I had to ditch my shoes to find good footholds, and even then, I came out of it tired. The top of the wall was a good foot across though, so I had a moment to sit before jumping down.

In Heaven, the most prized angels were the trades ones. Michael couldn't do technical skills, after all, as it was below him. So instead there were a couple of angels who knew how lights worked, or knew how to heat the bathwater. And they lived a pretty exclusive life. We needed plumbers, masons, and electricians, after all. So they simply didn't get felled. Me and Fust used to call them untouchables when we felt like being rude. They were required to teach others their craft, after all. It just seemed like the couple masters always managed to outlive their apprentices.

The light panels that sat on the roofs of some of the inner circle houses were now recognizable to me as nothing more than electric bulbs connected to solar panels. The houses too had lost their charm- they were fine houses, sure, but I was starting to see them as old rotting relics instead of sacred places.

The wall was poorly made too. And the Church Tower was frankly horrific. We had built it ourselves however long ago, and looking at it now, it seemed like a structurally unsafe building. It was a great tower stretching however long into the sky, made of odd colored and heavy stones. It was more wide than tall though- it had to be, as there was a single hollow circle that stretched up through the middle.

At the very bottom was a dusty sand stage. We would all sit on the various levels of the tower- connected through a narrow spiraling staircase. There were nine levels total, and not much preventing one from tumbling down onto the pit below. A great number of pillars held up each floor, but I had to wonder if that was enough.

Usually we used the place for funerals, festivals, and whatever else the Brothers had to say to us. They sat on the top floor, of course, by themselves.

Next to the Church Tower was an entirely separate building we also called the Church Tower. I guess if someone wanted to be technical, it could just be called 'the Church'. It was long, low, and flat. The sign outside it's entrance had long been torn off. Here was where the Brothers lived. Here was where I was not allowed.

I had upmost respect and piety for the rules that Michael set. But the more I was walking in Heaven, and the more I was thinking about life here, the more I was breathing fast. I was not okay. Heaven was not providing the relief I needed. Michael was the only one who could give me that now.

I opted to climb a window when I saw someone standing inside the front door. This place was bound to be guarded, after all, but I felt it likely the guard was limited only to the first floor, where the most favored lived, and the basement baths. The Brothers wouldn't want anyone upstairs.

Climbing through the window was a real challenge at first, but not nearly as much of one as I expected. I guess no one had ever tried it before, so security wasn't really needed.

I fell through into a bedroom. It was small and cluttered- the bed sat in the center, crammed facing the window and a foot from the door. On one side was a pile of blankets and a multitude of drawings taped to the wall. On the other was a bookshelf, and again a pile of blankets. One wall had small posters with various exotic locations. Another had writing directly on the wall.

Whose room was this? I examined the wall writings first, but found it in a language I couldn't recognize. After a long bout of puzzling, I did finally determine it to be angelic- but it was poor. Some characters were too big, or backwards, and all of it was done by a shaky hand.

Next I rolled over to the art wall. I scanned the drawings- they were of exceptional quality, and all of them were portraits of various angels. The women more than the men, and most entirely naked. The sketchbooks were no different, but I did find a couple drawings of the Brothers. They were all straight on profiles, and seemed very vacant eyed. There was no way to tell which, if any, was a self portrait.

The bookshelf was next. I pulled a couple books out and flicked through. They were all on how to draw- clothes, birds, architecture. I tried a different shelf, and was again met with pictures- and only pictures.

The lower shelf had a few boxes, and I pulled one on my lap to examine it's contents. There were about forty small glass jars stacked on top of each other. They were full of dark liquid. I had to hold one up towards the light to confirm it was blood.

There was nothing here to define anyone. I looked under the bed, and found only human clothes- hooded sweatshirts and blue pants.

I left the room with some difficulty. There really wasn't space for the door to open. I entered a strangely blue and green and white hall and looked around. It was absolutely deserted. I guess I could still do some more snooping in the rooms here, but I felt uncomfortable with the idea of learning anything negative about the Brothers. Like what Tecie had tried to tell me. Stuff like that did not bode well in my heart.

I wandered the halls, so like the ones in Hell, until I found a sort of lounge area. A good number of couches- about seven- littered the floor space. Michael was laying on one of them, accompanied by Cassiel.

He straightened up when he saw me. Cassiel moved to the other side of the couch, and looked down. "You're not supposed to be here. On multiple levels, actually. What are you doing here?"

"I'm, uh-"

"Here to report to me? Alright. Sit down then. I'll question your methods for getting in here afterwards. Cas, leave us." Cassiel seemed to protest having to leave, or at least I saw that in her eyes. But she also was looking shyer than I would have thought possible, and seemed relieved to go.

"So, uh, I went-"

"To Hell. Yes. I know. I sent you there. That was all my doing. Surprised to see here. I thought the Deadchild girl was going to be carrying your reports for you? Learn anything good? We got the message that Hell's still interested in peace, but I'm not sure when I'm going to accept it. Or if. Gotta keep them on their toes."

I was dizzy from how much Michael knew. And could say in such a short frame of time. "So. Right. About that. I did learn one interesting thing. Or two?"

"Tell. Or wait. Let me see. Did you find the Angelic Archives? All the armor and shit they've collected over the years? Know about that. Did you find Rhamiel? I know they still have his body. Did you hear about Percial? See some footage, maybe? I know about that."

"None of those." But I was still very impressed by Michael. I constantly was. Anyone who talked fast must think fast. And I really couldn't keep up with Michael's words.

"What then?" Now he seemed irritated. If he wanted me to find new things, why was he upset when I actually did so? There must have been some great cosmic plan he was counting on, one that I had failed to fulfill.

"There's- uh, well. It's not a good story, per se..."

"You weren't chosen for your storytelling skills. I get it, yeah? Just go on."

"They have childr-"

"Children?" Michael's eyes were wide and frantic. "Children? Demons can have children?"

"I think so, yeah, but it's worse than that. One of them, one of the military leaders- the Aries, actually- has evidently had children with an angel. And- they're still alive. Though very young."

"Disgusting." Michael said before I could finish speaking. Then he took a long pause. "Get them for me then, yeah?"

"What?"

"I want those children. Get them for me. Yeah."

"Don't you want to find out and fell-"

"Whoever created these abominations? Yes, sure, whatever. I want those children though."

"To kill?"

"Do I look like the sort of monster who kills kids? Of course I'm going to keep them. Alive. After all, they're half-angel. And we could always do with more angels."

"They're half-demon though. And probably disgusting. And, uh, I have no idea where they're being kept, but it's probably max security. And the mother will get pissed at me if I steal her kids."

"She doesn't get to see her kids normally. She'll be glad to know they're in safe hands. My hands. The safest of the safe when it comes to hands. Moll isn't going to miss them in the slightest."

I did not question how he knew so much about the situation. Michael could read minds, after all. He probably knew everything there was to know the moment I walked through the door, but decided to talk it out to be polite.

"There's another thing." The fact that Michael knew everything I was going to say ahead of time comforted me. If he was not angry now, he probably wasn't going to get angry later.

"Hm?" Michael said. He had, in the brief moment of time between speaking, started to pick at his nails.

"The girl. The Deadchild one. Tecie, Deadchild, that is. She has tried to turn me away from you. And it has made me... uncomfortable."

"What now, yeah?"

"She showed me old papers that seemed to suggest- again, I of course doubt all this and remain entirely loyal to you- that you were once a human man. With the human name of Lexington. And a vial of Grace injected into your veins."

"You're good to doubt." Michael said. When he became formal, he sat upright and held his head at just enough of an angle that he was looking down on me. "Doubting is healthy. But faith is what remains. And you have faith in me, correct?"

"Of course. Faith and love."

"Then you have no need for doubt or illness. Tell me, what do you know of the Deadchild girl?"

"Er, well, she's a demon-"

"She's a demon! That is exactly all you need to know about her. Demons lie, Nichael. Demons feel only the worst of feelings no matter what they do, and the only way for them to feel joy is to spread this bad thoughts into the hearts of others. You are a good angel, Nichael. You are loyal."

"I am loyal. Yes."

"Then there has never been a need to fear." He put a hand to my shoulder and gripped it tight, and I shivered. I felt honored. Few had the chance to ever talk to Michael like this.

"I will- I'll get you those kids then."

"Excellent. The kids, and anything other interesting facts you can unearth."

By the way Michael kept sitting, I figured I was the one who was supposed to get up. I didn't really know why I hadn't told him about getting kicked out of Hell, or the cult I now ran, or how I was basically friends with Tecie at this point. I just knew I was feeling very warm, and very much in love with Michael. He had known just what to say.

And it was probably fine I hadn't told him everything- he was psychic. He knew it all anyways. He could hear me thinking these thoughts right now. He knew my doubts. He knew my fears. And he supported me all the same.